Corporate Development & Strategy (Search and Evaluation) Intern

Ardelyx • Waltham, MA

1d • Onsite

About The Position

Ardelyx is a publicly traded commercial biopharmaceutical company founded with a mission to discover, develop and commercialize innovative first-in-class medicines that meet significant unmet medical needs. Ardelyx has two commercial products approved in the United States, IBSRELA® (tenapanor) and XPHOZAH® (tenapanor). Ardelyx has agreements for the development and commercialization of tenapanor outside of the U.S. Kyowa Kirin commercializes PHOZEVEL® (tenapanor) for hyperphosphatemia in Japan. A New Drug Application for tenapanor for hyperphosphatemia has been approved in China with Fosun Pharma. Knight Therapeutics commercializes IBSRELA in Canada. Position Summary: The Corporate Development & Strategy Intern will support search and evaluation activities for new business development and licensing (BD&L) opportunities. The team has built a database of potential assets across multiple therapeutic areas and modalities, and this role will focus on conducting a deep dive within a single therapeutic area. The intern will identify assets that meet predefined strategic and scientific parameters and prepare concise overviews for the deal team to review.

Requirements

• Currently pursuing a degree in Life Sciences (e.g., Biology, Pharmacology, Biochemistry), Biomedical Engineering, Pharmacy, Business with a strong scientific focus, or a related field.
• Strong scientific foundation and ability to understand mechanisms of action, disease biology, and clinical data at a high level.
• Excellent analytical and critical-thinking skills, with the ability to evaluate and compare assets against structured criteria.
• Proficiency with PowerPoint and comfort summarizing complex information in concise, visual formats.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with attention to detail and organization.

Nice To Haves

• Familiarity with drug development, clinical trial phases, and basic regulatory concepts.
• Experience conducting literature reviews or working with scientific/clinical databases.
• Interest in corporate development, BD&L, or life sciences strategy.

Responsibilities

• Review and analyze a curated database of Preclinical through Phase 2 ready assets within a selected therapeutic area (s).
• Apply predefined strategic, clinical, and scientific criteria to identify assets that fit the company’s BD&L parameters.
• Conduct secondary research using proprietary and public data sources (e.g., scientific literature, competitive intelligence, clinical trial databases).
• Develop one-page “tear sheets” summarizing each prioritized asset, including MOA, relevance in disease, and available preclinical and/or clinical data.
• Synthesize complex scientific and market landscape information into clear, structured summaries for the deal team.
• Collaborate with the manager to refine filters, prioritization criteria, and asset short lists based on interim findings.

What This Job Offers

• Career Level: Intern
• Education Level: No Education Listed
• Number of Employees: 101-250 employees